Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Takashi Asada

Publications and source records attributed to Takashi Asada.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Efficacy of milnacipran on poststroke depression on inpatient rehabilitation.

Post-stroke depression (PSD) has a negative impact on rehabilitation following stroke. No satisfactory antidepressant treatment for PSD has yet been developed. The present study examined the effect of milnacipran, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, on PSD patients. Eleven PSD patients taking milnacipran in a rehabilitation hospital were compared to age-matched, sex-matched, and severity of depression at admission-matched PSD patients hospitalized during 2001 who did not take any antidepressant as historical control. Severity of depression was measured using self-rating depression scale for depression (SDS) assessed at admission and discharge after 3 months inpatient rehabilitation. Activities of daily living (ADL) and quality of life (QOL) were measured, respectively, by the functional independence measure (FIM) and a self-completed questionnaire for QOL (QUIK) as outcomes of rehabilitation. For the SDS score, the group taking milnacipran showed significant improvement compared to the control group in our study. FIM was improved in both groups. In the end QUIK did not change significantly in either group. We found no major side-effects of milnacipran among the patients. These results suggest that milnacipran is a safe and effective treatment for PSD for inpatients undergoing rehabilitation.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

[Role of psychiatry in prevention of accidental falling in the aged].

The high incidence of falling among the psychogeriatric patients has recently been acknowledged. Elderly patients with depression and dementia, and long-term hospitalized schizophrenic patients are particularly prone to falling. By sustaining falling, these patients suffer from not only injuries including femoral neck fracture but also consequent fall-phobia. As the results, quality of life and the prognosis of psychiatric illnesses of the fallers are affected. In order to prevent fallings, we must pay attention to the prescribed drugs, nursing issues and environmental aspects of wards. Muscle strengthening exercises may be especially useful for the prevention of falls among long-term hospitalized schizophrenic patients.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed2004

Genetic and expression analyses of FZD3 in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Wnt signaling plays important roles in neurodevelopmental processes. Frizzled is a receptor of Wnt protein, and the Frizzled 3 (FZD3) gene was recently reported to be associated with schizophrenia. Our study attempted to confirm associations between FZD3 and schizophrenia in Japanese family and case-control samples. METHODS: Genetic associations were evaluated using family-based transmission tests (212 families, 643 subjects) and case--control analysis (540 schizophrenia patients, 540 control sample). Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the FZD3 locus were genotyped, and levels of FZD3 mRNA expression in postmortem brains were examined. RESULTS: Neither family- nor population-based studies supported associations between FZD3 and schizophrenia. FZD3 expression was unaltered in schizophrenic brains. CONCLUSIONS: Although two prior studies have reported associations using limited numbers of SNPs on FZD3, our intensive study failed to support any major contribution of FZD3 to schizophrenia susceptibility.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

GABAA receptor gamma subunits in the prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Immunohistochemical and immunoblot techniques were employed in order to examine alterations of the GABAA receptor gamma subunits in the prefrontal cortex from postmortem subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Immunohistochemically, gamma 1/3 immunolabeling in the neuronal soma in the prefrontal cortex from subjects with bipolar disorder was more intense than that of the controls and the subjects with schizophrenia. The intensity of gamma 1/3 immunolabeling of the schizophrenic subjects was comparable with that of the controls. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated a significant increase in the gamma 1 subunit in the bipolar subjects, whereas no remarkable difference was detected in the schizophrenic subjects. The present study suggests that the GABAA receptor gamma subunit is differentially involved in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and that the gamma subunit is up-regulated in the prefrontal cortex of subjects with bipolar disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Effects of partial volume correction on discrimination between very early Alzheimer's dementia and controls using brain perfusion SPECT.

We assessed the accuracy of brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in discriminating between patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) at the very early stage and age-matched controls before and after partial volume correction (PVC). Three-dimensional MRI was used for PVC. We randomly divided the subjects into two groups. The first group, comprising 30 patients and 30 healthy volunteers, was used to identify the brain area with the most significant decrease in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients compared with normal controls based on the voxel-based analysis of a group comparison. The second group, comprising 31 patients and 31 healthy volunteers, was used to study the improvement in diagnostic accuracy provided by PVC. A Z score map for a SPECT image of a subject was obtained by comparison with mean and standard deviation SPECT images of the healthy volunteers for each voxel after anatomical standardization and voxel normalization to global mean or cerebellar values using the following equation: Z score = ([control mean]-[individual value] )/(control SD). Analysis of receiver operating characteristics curves for a Z score discriminating AD and controls in the posterior cingulate gyrus, where a significant decrease in rCBF was identified in the first group, showed that the PVC significantly enhanced the accuracy of the SPECT diagnosis of very early AD from 73.9% to 83.7% with global mean normalization. The PVC mildly enhanced the accuracy from 73.1% to 76.3% with cerebellar normalization. This result suggests that early diagnosis of AD requires PVC in a SPECT study.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Association between tau polymorphism and male early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Neurofibrillary tangles, containing hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau, are one of the major pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. To investigate a possible association between tau genotypes and the risk of Alzheimer's disease, we screened for polymorphisms in the tau gene and found a novel polymorphism IVS11 + 90G --> A. A case-control study (874 patients and 678 controls) showed a significant association between possession of the A allele and male Alzheimer's disease with early-onset (age of onset before 65, odds ratio = 2.65; 95% confidence interval 1.30-5.42), suggesting that age and gender modify the risk effect. However, we failed to replicate the reported association between the Saitohin gene located in the tau intron 9 and Japanese Alzheimer's disease.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Immunohistochemical and immunoblot study of GABA(A) alpha1 and beta2/3 subunits in the prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

A number of investigations have provided a growing body of evidence of the involvement of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transmitter system in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In this study, immunohistochemical and immunoblot techniques were employed in order to examine alterations of the GABA(A) receptor alpha1 and beta2/3 subunits in the prefrontal cortex from postmortem subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. alpha1 immunoreactivity was observed in the neuropil of the prefrontal cortex and in the neuronal soma in specimens from both groups, as well as from normal controls. alpha1 immunolabeling in the neuronal soma from the schizophrenic group was more intense than that of the other two groups. The distribution of beta2/3 immunoreactivity was similar to that of alpha1. beta2/3 immunolabeling in the neuronal soma from the schizophrenia and bipolar disorder groups was more intense than that of the normal controls. The densitometry measurements, as well as the immunoblot analysis for alpha1 and beta2/3 were highly consistent with the alpha1 and beta2/3 immunohistochemistry results. The present study suggests that the expression of these two GABA(A) receptor subunits was altered in subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but that the patterns of change differed between those with these two disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Immunohistochemical study of hnRNP B1 in the postmortem temporal cortices of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

In order to examine the post-transcriptional regulations in Alzheimer's disease, we employed immunohistochemical techniques and examined the expression of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) B1 in the inferior temporal cortex of subjects with Alzheimer's disease. In the mild cases, intense B1 immunoreactivity was observed in neurons of layer V, and less intense immunoreactivity was observed in layers II and III. The overall distributions and intensities of B1 immunoreactivity were undistinguishable among mild, moderate, and severe cases. Double-immunolabeling with MC1 and B1 demonstrated that B1 immunoreactivity was preserved in the majority of neurofibrillary tangle (NFT)-bearing neurons. Our study suggests that hnRNP B1-associated post-transcriptional regulations are preserved in the inferior temporal cortex of Alzheimer's disease.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

A case of neurosyphilis showing a marked improvement of clinical symptoms and cerebral blood flow on single photon emission computed tomography with quantitative penicillin treatment.

A 31-year-old woman manifested significant emotional symptoms and personality change due to neurosyphilis; her clinical symptoms were improved with quantitative penicillin treatment. On admission, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed no abnormal findings, while N-isopropyl-p-[123I] iodoamphetamine single photon emission computed tomography (123I-IMP SPECT) initially showed a remarkable increase in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the cerebral cortex. This increase disappeared after improvement of the patient's clinical symptoms with treatment. It appears that the increase in CBF might have reflected an active inflammatory state of neurosyphilis and that its disappearance might therefore represent successful treatment with penicillin for neurosyphilis. Our case study suggests that single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a useful method for evaluating an inflammatory state and for assessing the effect of therapy on neurosyphilis.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Gender difference in brain perfusion 99mTc-ECD SPECT in aged healthy volunteers after correction for partial volume effects.

BACKGROUND: Previous reports have yielded controversial results concerning gender differences in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). To elucidate this issue, we compared 99mTc ethyl cysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images for brain perfusion between aged-matched healthy men and women after correction for partial volume effects (PVEs). METHODS: Brain perfusion SPECT in the resting state was performed on 40 healthy, right-handed subjects, 20 men and 20 women, with an age range of 58-86 years, who did not differ sociodemographically. PVE correction was performed using grey matter volume measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Statistical parametric mapping was used for the analysis of the adjusted rCBF images of relative flow distribution. RESULTS: The PVE correction revealed that women had higher rCBF in left inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyri, and left superior temporal gyrus. Men had higher rCBF in left superior frontal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, right superior parietal lobule, right postcentral gyrus, right cerebellum, right middle frontal gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, and right precuneus. CONCLUSION: Significant gender differences in rCBF existed in these healthy volunteers. The PVE correction of SPECT images revealed gender differences that were consistent with the universal findings of better performance on verbal tasks in women and on visuospatial tasks in men.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Ion chromatographic determination of ammonia in air using a sampling tube of porous carbon.

The ion chromatographic determination of ammonia in air using a sampling tube of porous carbon carbonized at 500 degrees C was examined. When the mean recovery and the reproducibility for a series of five determinations were examined for 1 and 10 ppm ammonia gases, the mean recovery (n = 5) and the relative standard deviation were 97.0% and 3.5% for 1 ppm and 86.9% and 2.8% for 10 ppm, respectively. Furthermore, the recovery from 10 ppm ammonia gas increased with an increase in the extraction time, and a recovery of 99.7% was obtained for 180 min of extraction time. The mean collection efficiency for 1 and 10 ppm ammonia gas was 102.5% and 96.5%, respectively. The relation between the sampling volume and the peak area was linear, and the linearity was 0.999 of the correlation coefficient. The ammonia gas concentration in an actual goat shed could be determined by this sampling device for a sampling volume of 5 L at a flow rate of 1 L/min; 0.79 ppm of the determination value practically agreed as compare with 0.78 ppm from collection by a boric acid solution.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

[Behave-AD].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2004

Superiority of 3-dimensional stereotactic surface projection analysis over visual inspection in discrimination of patients with very early Alzheimer's disease from controls using brain perfusion SPECT.

UNLABELLED: In Alzheimer's disease (AD), regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the posterior cingulate gyri and precunei has been reported to decrease even at a very early stage. It may be helpful to use statistical image analysis to distinguish slight decreases in rCBF in this area. We compared a 3-dimensional stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) technique with visual inspection in the discrimination of patients with very early AD from age-matched controls using brain perfusion SPECT. METHODS: SPECT was obtained in 38 patients with probable AD at a very early stage and after a mean interval of 15 mo and in 76 age-matched healthy volunteers. We randomly divided these subjects into 2 groups. The first group was used to identify the areas with significant decreases of rCBF in patients compared with healthy control subjects based on the voxel-based analysis using 3D-SSP. The second group was used to compare the discrimination ability between patients and control subjects by 3D-SSP with that by visual inspection. In the second group, a Z-score map for a SPECT image of a subject was obtained by comparison with mean and SD SPECT images of control subjects for each voxel after anatomic standardization and voxel normalization to reference regions. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for a Z-score discriminating patients with AD from control subjects were analyzed in areas with significant decreases of rCBF identified in the first group. For visual inspection, 6 physicians graded the rCBF decrease on SPECT images for ROC curves. They inspected the images twice at an interval of >2 wk, and intra- and interobserver reliabilities were determined. RESULTS: Visual inspection showed fair-to-excellent intra- and interobserver reliabilities. The 3D-SSP demonstrated an accuracy of 86.2% for discriminating patients with AD from control subjects when analyzing the posterior cingulate gyri and precunei with global mean normalization. In contrast, visual inspection did not show an accuracy of >74.0% for this discrimination. CONCLUSION: The ability of 3D-SSP to discriminate patients with very early AD from control subjects is superior to that of visual inspection. It is clinically useful and reliable to adopt the use of 3D-SSP as an adjunct to visual interpretation.

Aged↗